Sequences in the development of competent play with peers: Social and social pretend play.

Abstract

In Study 1,48 children participated in a longitudinal study of peer play development, from infancy through preschool. Children developed play forms in the expected sequence and at the expected ages. Children showed stability in both proportion and emergence of complex play. Children's pattern of play form emergence and proportion of time in more complex play forms related to subsequent indexes of social competence. In Study 2, we assessed the peer play of children ages 10 to 59 months. One sample (n = 259) attended minimally adequate child-care centers. The other sample (n = 48) attended a model child-care center. Children in the model center showed complex play form emergence at earlier ages and engaged in greater proportions of complex play than children in the minimally adequate centers.We appreciate the efforts of the research team who worked on these studies:

Oyun, Öğrenme ve Deneyimin Birleşimi: Çocuk Müzeleri

“…Oyun, çocukların okul süreçleri için gerekli bir yaşam becerisi olan akranlarla ilişkisinde de önemlidir (Howes & Matheson, 1992). Birlikte oynayan çocuklar oyun sayesinde birlikte çalışmayı da öğrenmektedirler (Michnick-Golinkoff, Hirsh-Pasek, .…”

The Construction of ‘Toddler’ in Early Childhood Pedagogy

“…The fact that the adult role in the aforementioned studies was nonintervening (for example, Howes & Matheson, 1992) is noteworthy. Does this mean that children, when playing, do not need teachers and caretakers to participate?…”

“…Play has featured prominently in the studies (for example, Eckerman et al, 1975) and toddler games have been made explicit as motor games (Stambak et al, 1983). Social competency in interaction and play has been seen as forming friendships (for example, Howes & Matheson, 1992) and as sympathetic sharing of emotions (Murphy, 1992). Last, but not least, peer identification and attachment were analyzed in the unique study of Freud & Dann (1951).…”

European and Greek legislation on preschool children's protection from the use of unsafe toys

“…In this way, the toy can be defined as a cultural object in the sense of transmitting meanings and as a communicative object (Brougère, 2006, p. 23). It entertains the child and facilitates his/her social relations and competences (Bradley, 1985;Goncu, 1993;Howes, 1992;Mendez, McDermott, & Fantuzzo, 2002) and enhances the expression of his/her ideas and emotions (Linn, 2008). In early childhood, when there is a theoretical and ideological basis for the value of toys in the foundation of later knowledge (Hutt, Tyler, Hutt, & Cristopherson, 1989), the commercial toy, as a means of learning, provides the ideal framework to support this view (Bennett, Wood, & Rogers, 1997).…”